WINDSOR, England - Queen Elizabeth II has been interred together with her late husband, Prince Philip, at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, officials said.
The royal family’s official website said the Dean of Windsor conducted a private burial ceremony late Monday at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, an annex inside St. George’s, a gothic church in the grounds of Windsor Castle.
Philip, who was Elizabeth’s husband of more than 70 years, died last year at age 99. His coffin had been placed in a different part of St. George’s Chapel, ready to be moved to the King George VI Memorial Chapel to join the queen when she died.
The chapel is also where Elizabeth II’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, as well as the late monarch’s sister Margaret, are buried.
Monday evening’s interment service was not open to the media, and King Charles III and senior royal members were able to bid a final farewell to the late monarch in private after being in the public spotlight for 10 days of national mourning.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
- Britain and the world bid final farewell to Queen Elizabeth II at funeral
- Queen reunited with late husband Philip and her parents in Windsor
- Order of Service for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral
- Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is huge security challenge
- Royal lying in state rituals endure despite changing times
- Queen paved the way for transition to Charles in final years
- Find more AP coverage here
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
WINDSOR, England - Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has been lowered into the royal vault at St. George’s Chapel, in Windsor Castle, at the conclusion of her committal service.
The Lord Chamberlain, the most senior official in the British royal household, broke a rod known as the “wand of office” as the royal family and hundreds of mourners bid a final farewell to the late monarch.
Andrew Parker, who is the former head of Britain’s domestic secret service MI5, broke the white rod and placed it on the queen’s coffin. The ritual symbolizes the end of his service to the monarch.
Earlier David Conner, the Dean of Windsor, paid tribute to the queen, telling 800 mourners gathered at the chapel about the queen as “someone whose uncomplicated yet profound Christian faith bore so much fruit.”
He said: “In the midst of our rapidly changing and frequently troubled world, her calm and dignified presence has given us confidence to face the future, as she did, with courage and with hope.”
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WINDSOR, England - The order of service for Queen Elizabeth II’s committal service at Windsor Castle was planned by the late monarch for many years.
She chose all the hymns except for the very last one, which was selected by her son and heir King Charles III.
Most of the music played during the service was composed by Sir William Harris, who was an organist at the chapel for much of the queen’s childhood.
As a child, Elizabeth was often seen visiting the organ loft to watch the composer play, especially during Christmas.
Later Monday, a private ceremony was to be held by members of the royal family before the queen is laid to rest, next to her late husband Prince Philip.
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WINDSOR, England - A procession carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has entered St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle for the late monarch’s committal service.
Eight hundred guests are attending the service, including prime ministers from Commonwealth countries and many staff who worked with the queen or on her royal estates.
Most of those attending the chapel service did not attend the state funeral held at Westminster Abbey in London earlier Monday.
During the service, the Imperial State Crown and the sovereign’s orb and sceptre are removed from the top of the queen’s coffin and placed on an altar, separating the queen from her crown for the last time.
The Dean of Windsor reads a psalm and the queen’s coffin is lowered into the chapel’s royal vault.
Later Monday, the royals will hold a private service at the chapel, when the queen will be interred together with her late husband Prince Philip, who died last year at 99.
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WINDSOR, England - The state hearse carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin has arrived at Windsor Castle for the final stretch of a long procession that ends at St. George’s Chapel, where the late monarch will be laid to rest.
Thousands of people lined both sides of the Long Walk in front of the castle as a military procession escorted the coffin in slow procession.
Silence fell among the sea of mourners as the sound of drummers grew louder, and many at the back of the crowd raised their phones high in the air to try to get a glimpse of the scene.
The ceremonies in Windsor are the final events capping 10 days of national mourning since Elizabeth died in Scotland on Sept. 8 aged 96.
Earlier Monday, hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries bid a final farewell to the monarch at a grand state funeral in London’s Westminster Abbey, before the coffin was carried by gun carriage through central London.
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LONDON - The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II has competed a procession at walking pace through central London and is bound in a hearse for her final resting place at Windsor Castle.
After being pulled more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from Westminster Abbey on a gun carriage by 142 Royal Navy sailors, the coffin was transferred to a hearse at Wellington Arch, near Buckingham Palace.
Dozens of Buckingham Place staff stood in a neat line in the palace courtyard, and many bowed or curtseyed as the procession passed by.
The monarch’s coffin will go by car the 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Windsor Castle, where she will be interred later Monday alongside her husband Prince Philip, who died last year.
Dense crowds packed the route through the heart of ceremonial London – and thousands more people are lining the more workaday suburban roads the hearse will take on its journey to Windsor.
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TOKYO - In Japan, several people sipped beer at The Aldgate British pub in Tokyo’s fashionable Shibuya district, where Queen Elizabeth II’s London funeral was streaming live on several screens where soccer games are usually shown.
“Her death had such impact,” said Tomotaka Hosokawa, a dentist, who has been to Britain twice and feels Japanese and British culture have much in common.
“This is all happening abroad, but it is also important for us,” he said Monday, as bagpipes blared and choruses sang from the screens. A portrait of the queen stood on the pub’s counter.
In Japan, state funerals are generally reserved for the emperor, who was attending the queen’s funeral, given the close relations between the royal and imperial families.
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LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin is being taken on a gun carriage from Westminster Abbey for a last procession through the heart of London.
The coffin is being transported to Windsor, outside the British capital, where the former monarch will be laid to rest later Monday.
King Charles III and other senior royals are marching behind the coffin to Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner. Tens of thousands of people are lining the route.
Gun salutes are being fired in nearby Hyde Park, and Big Ben is tolling at one-minute intervals during the procession.
The coffin is to be taken by hearse to Windsor, where the queen will be interred alongside her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last year.
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LONDON - A two-minute silence has been observed across the United Kingdom in memory of Queen Elizabeth II as the late monarch’s state funeral service drew to a close in Westminster Abbey.
Britain’s royal family, along with hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries gathered at the Gothic abbey in London for the service Monday, lowered their heads as Household Cavalry trumpeters played “The Last Post.”
The congregation then observed a two-minute silence before singing the national anthem.
A lament, played by the Queen’s Piper, brought the service to a close.
After the service, the queen’s coffin was to be laid to rest at Windsor Castle .
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LONDON - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said “few leaders receive the outpouring of love we have seen” for Queen Elizabeth II.
In a sermon at the monarch’s funeral in Westminster Abbey, the leader of the Church of England said the queen “was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.”
Recalling the queen’s promise on her 21st birthday that “her whole life would be dedicated to serving the nation and the Commonwealth,” Welby said: “Rarely has such a promise been so well kept.”
The funeral service includes readings and hymns of significance to the queen, including the hymn “The Lord’s My Shepherd,” which was sung at her wedding to Prince Philip in the same abbey in 1947.
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LONDON - The funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is underway at Westminster Abbey, where 2,000 mourners are gathered to say goodbye to Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
The queen’s coffin sits at the center of the abbey after being borne Monday by pallbearers and accompanied by her son King Charles III, and other members of the royal family.
They included Prince William, his wife Kate and their two elder children George, 9 and Charlotte, 7. Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, also walked behind the coffin.
Dean of Westminster David Hoyle opened the service in the ancient abbey, where Elizabeth was married and crowned.
He said: “We gather from across the nation, from the Commonwealth, and from the nations of the world, to mourn our loss, to remember her long life of selfless service, and in sure confidence to commit her to the mercy of God our maker and redeemer.”
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LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral procession has arrived at the West Gate of Westminster Abbey for a state funeral service.
Pallbearers have lifted the coffin from the state gun carriage and carried it inside the Gothic medieval abbey where 2,000 mourners stood as it entered Monday.
Crowds lined the route of the procession through London. Bagpipes played as soldiers in bear skin hats and 142 sailors escorted the coffin from Westminster Hall, where the queen lay in state for four full days for the public to pay their respects ahead of her funeral.
The queen’s coffin is draped with the royal standard and a wreath of flowers including blooms and foliage cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House at Charles’s request.
They include rosemary for remembrance, and myrtle cut from a plant that was grown from a sprig of myrtle in the queen’s wedding bouquet in 1947.
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LONDON - Pallbearers formed by members of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards have taken Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin from Westminster Hall for a solemn procession to nearby Westminster Abbey, where her state funeral service is to be held.
The late monarch’s coffin has been lying in state in Westminster Hall for four days. Hundreds of thousands of people have filed past to pay their last respects.
On Monday morning the coffin was placed on a state gun carriage, to be drawn by 142 Royal Navy service personnel to the nearby abbey past crowds of mourners lining the route.
The gun carriage was also used for the funerals of Edward VII, George V, George VI and former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
King Charles III and other members of the royal family, members of the King’s Household and the Household of the Prince of Wales are following the coffin.
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LONDON - U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill have arrived at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
The American leader is among hundreds of heads of state and political leaders from around the world attending the funeral service in London.
Throngs of people were lined up, six people deep along the route of the funeral procession after the service. Many held up their cellphones to grab images of the day’s events.
Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered in the city for the ceremonies.
After the funeral the queen’s coffin will be taken to Windsor Castle to be laid to rest.
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LONDON - A bell at Westminster Abbey has begun tolling 96 times, once for each year of Queen Elizabeth II’s life.
The abbey’s Tenor Bell struck at 9:24 a.m. Monday and was due to toll once a minute until the queen’s funeral service begins at 11 a.m.
Hundreds of mourners have already arrived at the Gothic cathedral for the service. They will be joined by royalty, heads of state and political leaders from around the world.
Others drawn from members of the public include long-serving nurse Nancy O’Neill, recognized for her efforts in the fight against Covid-19, and Pranav Bhanot, who helped deliver 1,200 free meals during the pandemic.
Afterward, a funeral procession will wind through city streets with the coffin carried on the state gun carriage as it makes its way to Windsor Castle to be laid to rest.
London authorities said almost three hours before the procession that all public viewing areas were already full.
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LONDON - Mourners are arriving at Westminster Abbey to take their seats for Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral service.
Guests began entering the Gothic medieval abbey shortly after 8 a.m. (0700 GMT; 3 a.m. EDT) on Monday.
Dignitaries were arriving later, with many heads of state gathering at a nearby hospital to be driven by bus to the abbey.
Westminster Abbey is where Elizabeth was married in 1947 and crowned in 1953.
A day packed with funeral events in London and Windsor began early when the doors of 900-year-old Westminster Hall were closed to mourners after hundreds of thousands had filed in front of her coffin since Sept 14.
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CANBERRA, Australia - Around 300 people are expected to watch a broadcast of Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral at an official Australian residence where during her final visit to the country the late monarch was woken in the mornings by shrieking sulfur-crested cockatoos.
The doors of Government House, the residence in the Australian capital Canberra of the British monarch’s representative Governor-General David Hurley, will be open to registered members of the public for the funeral.
Hurley is attending the London funeral in person. The queen spent several nights in Government House during her last Australian visit in 2011 and remarked at the time on the noise that the large white parrots made at dawn.
The public offer of an opportunity to watch the funeral at the 19th century mansion set on 54 hectares (130 acres) of parkland populated by kangaroos and other native wildlife was overwhelmed. Registration closed on Tuesday last week, a Government House official said.
The queen visited Canberra during 14 of her 16 Australian visits, beginning in 1954.
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PARIS - The Paris Metro has renamed one of its stations after Queen Elizabeth II to honor the British monarch on the day of her state funeral.
The Metro company tweeted that the George V station, which serves the French capital’s famed Champs-Elysees boulevard, has been renamed Elizabeth II station for the day on Monday.
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LONDON - The last member of the public to view Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as it lay in state at the Houses of Parliament was Chrissy Heerey, a serving member of the Royal Air Force from Melton Mowbray.
Heerey says “it felt like a real privilege to do that.”
She said Monday she went through Westminster Hall twice - the first time in the early hours of the morning and then again just before its doors closed to mourners at 6:30 a.m. (0530GMT).
She says the experience was, “one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here.”
As the end of more than four days of the queen’s lying-in-state drew to a close, the stream of mourners slowed to a trickle. After Heerey bowed her head toward the coffin and moved away, parliamentary officials paid their last respects before leaving the queen’s coffin in the 900-year-old hall ringed by four candles and military guards in ceremonial uniforms.
Her coffin was being taken later Monday morning to Westminster Abbey for a state funeral attended by 2,000 people.
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LONDON - Prince William and his wife Catherine’s 9-year-old son Prince George and 7-year-old daughter Princess Charlotte will attend Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral.
George, who is now second in line to the throne, and his sister will walk through Westminster Abbey with the royal family in procession behind the queen’s coffin as it is carried by pallbearers Monday.
The funeral’s order of service showed that George and Charlotte will walk together behind their parents. They will be followed by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and other royal family members.
The royal children’s 4-year-old brother, Prince Louis, is not expected to be present at the funeral, which will be attended by some 2,000 people.
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